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Monday, March 14, 2011

From jazz fusion to funk, last night’s Bowlive performance was one of the most jamming, improvisational nights of the run. Special guest guitarist John Scofield, bassist Oteil Burbridge, his brother flautist Kofi Burbridge, and keyboardists Marco Benevento and Ivan Neville graced the Brooklyn Bowl’s stage last night for night seven of Bowlive 2. Albeit the shortest night of music thus far (it was much needed), last night was a highlighted night for strings, keyboards and a wonderful addition, the flute.

Alan Evan’s new project, Playonbrother Band, made their New York City debut last night as the opener. Another ameba of Royal Family Record musicians, their sound was funky and mature. Boston’s Jeffrey Lockhart played lead guitar while Alan Evan’s stuck to his drum kit. Bassist Chris Loftlin, keyboardist Nigel Hall, and horn players Ryan Zoidis, Brian Thomas and Shane completed the lineup. The highlight was when Alecia Chakour joined the stage with Nigel Hall to duet on the soulful Righteous Brothers’ cover “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” made famous by Robert Flack and Donnie Hathway. For those audience members who knew to be aware of their surroundings, they would have noticed Ralph Lauren and Oteil Burbridge grazing the floors as they watched the opening set.

Tonight, Soulive would keep it raging through one extra long set. The first half of the set was a fusion-infused jam session with John Scofield, Oteil Burbridge and Kofi Burbridge. The addition of the flute to any stage is a blessing, and Kofi Burbridge added a dimension to the music that has been unmatched previous nights. The amazing John Scofield led the stage through a song from his library, “Boozer”, and rock-fusion spilled into everyone’s ears as every instrument had a workout during Bill Cobham and George Duke’s “Red Baron” and “Stratus.” Jazz pianist James Hurt pulled an amazing solo on the synthesizer reminiscent of Duke himself while Eric Krasno was on fire the entire night, ripping his way through the chords of his guitar with a giant smile plastered across his face. Marco Benevento’s addition on Led Zepplin’s “Out On The Tiles” was so animated as Marco, in thick neon green glasses and headphones around his neck, danced around Eric Krasno, resting his head on Eric’s shoulder as he played a handheld synthesizer. Multiple times, Ivan Neville stepped out to join the fray over the course of the set, inserting his New Orleans flare.

The encore was quite a treat as well. Starting off with a teasing “Theme from Shaft”, into Sly and The Family Stone’s “Pappa Was a Rolling Stone” and ending with Alecia Chakour’s take on Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady” (a personal favorite song). Simply put, last night was fantastic combination of multiple layers of musical genres falling on top of each other. After seven nights of continuous music, you would think these musicians would be losing their energy but it’s quite the opposite. With the evening ending before 1:00 A.M., you can assume they are collecting their strength and saving the best for the last three magical nights of Bowlive 2!